Hi all I have just spoken to Brian at Mobile Marine and he advised the term was based on a very old English name for belaying pins. Basically its a wooden plank with holes for the belaying pins and fastened in a raised position to the deck. The shrouds are wrapped in a figure of eight round the belaying pins which in an emergency can be knocked out to release. They are used on the davit fixings, not the mast. I have small hooks on the shrouds to the bulwarks and on the fore mast fitting. My model requires the top cabin to be removable so I have made a fixing out of wire that can be quickly released from the white metal fitting on both sides.

Have moved on to the deck furniture and equipment, including the funnel. Most of it can be made from the usual assortment of scrap materials and odd and ends. Decided to start on the funnel. Planned to make up a wooden replica and wrap a thin styrene sheet around it, finally inserting styrene formers into the shell, gluing them into place. Made the replica up from scrap wood blocks and shaped it into the correct shape. The outcome looked so good was tempted to use as final as making funnels seems quite a challenge. Anyway proceeded to plan and shape thin styrene sheet around the replica, using a heat gun to overcome the memory. Once this was done, fitted shaped styrene internal formers to hold the styrene to the correct shape and glued with adhesive. After the styrene glue had dried and the excess material trimmed, now had two usable funnels - wood and styrene. The wood version is nominally smaller and fits slightly better, so decided to use it. The Teakwood was originally operated by the J I Jacobs Company, which had a buff funnel with a black cap as markings. Stumbled across a picture of the vessel when she was chartered to the British India Steam Navigation Co. Evidently BI usually painted chartered vessels in their livery. Although the picture does not show the traditional and attractive BISNCo white hull cheat line, it does show the funnel markings. These are black with two narrowly separated white bands. Rather preferred this scheme so adopted it. The picture was taken in the mid 1960s and it also shows a pristine looking ship, my worries about the model looking unsoiled seem groundless. One of the pictures shows a strip that extends back from the wheelhouse almost to the funnel - this is a support for the awnings that fit over the bridge wings.

Fran Oakey designed the Griffon 600 as a wooden model. Originally called the MM600 it used 2mm liteply without any lightning holes. It is heavier than the Depron version but will operate in rougher water and higher wind speeds. Takes the knocks better too.

Hi Kipper. Thanks for the link, I had already looked at the site and unfortunately could not visit on the 27th May for their regular lakeside meeting to make contact with club members. However I had previously paid a visit to the lake on Sunday 21st May expecting to see a few boats on the lake on a what was a gloriously sunny afternoon and found not a single boat but plenty of wildfowl and the lake clogged with weed and leaves. It's a nice big stretch of water with plenty of landing stages around the shoreline and on the wooden bridge that separates the pleasure boating lake from the model boating lake but the amount of weed and detritus would make me wary of making a maiden voyage there. By contrast, I visited the lake at Verulam Park St Albans a week earlier and, although not as big, had little or no weed, but a few alarmingly large branches were being thrown into the water by dog walkers who were encouraging their pets to retrieve them, but were ultimately abandoned. Sadly no boats were being sailed there at the time so I could not make any inquiries with their owners. The first 3 pictures are Stanborough and the last 3 are St Albans. I think I know which I prefer but I would still like to have the view of others who use these lakes regularly. All responses welcome....please ! Thanks. Rob.

I have been puzzled by conflicting statements on the web, some stating that adding resin and fibreglass will strengthen wooden construction, and others stating that it will not. For my own understanding I did some tests, which others may find interesting. These are not by any means scientific, and meant only as a guide for me in model construction. The results show that coating balsa with resin and fibreglass cloth does strengthen it. For those who want to see more detail, these are the results. Three separate strips of balsa, each 18" long by 1.5" wide were cut from a single sheet 36" long by 3" wide, 3/32" (2.4mm) thick. Each strip was placed on top of two supports 10" apart. A load was applied in increments to the centre of the span. After testing each strip in its uncoated condition, each one was coated with Deluxe Materials Eze-Kote resin, according to the maker's instructions, and a layer of fibreglass cloth applied on each side. The cloth was a piece I had spare so I don't know what weight it was, but I estimate between 1 and 1.5 oz per sq yd. After coating each strip was tested again. The results are shown in the chart. The lower the deflection when loaded, the stronger the strip. Although all strips were cut from one sheet, strip 3 was clearly stiffer and stronger than the other two in its uncoated state. It benefited least from the addition of the fibreglass. Strips 1 and 2 showed a significant increase in strength.

Hello, I recommend grinding the whole body with fine sanding paper, then take the "LORD NELSON" pore filler and then re-grind it again. Subsequently, the final lacquer of the best brand. I have been treated like a wooden boat DIVA and already for 6 years on the water without any problems. What happened to you is that you used a bad lacquer that does not resist water. Two-component epoxy lacquers are also good for large yachts. I'm sending a link to the Czech site where the varnishes are designed for ship modellers. Just use the Gogle translator and the same merchandise you can get at the shop. Or on EBay. https://www.modelylodi.cz/Laky-a-plnice-c11_86_2.htm😉

I had previously adapted the mast with lighting and fixing studs and so it’s ready to be fitted to the wheelhouse roof, but I decided to add some rigging detail in the process. Along with some other items, I had previously bought some threaded brass ’eyes’ and wooden rigging blocks by mail order from RB models in Poland. Very good prices and remarkably quick delivery from overseas. http://www.rbmodel.com I drilled the horizontal bar of the mast to take a couple of small brass eyes, and bent the lower part of the exposed thread back at an angle, onto these I fitted some wooden rigging blocks with brass sheaves which I had previously stained mahogany and lacquered. Another slightly larger eye was fitted to the centre of the mast and another to the wheelhouse roof for the forward stay rope, I used some thin white elasticated thread that I found in my local Hobbycraft store for all the rigging. The stay rope end were finished with small brass hooks formed from some thin brass wire and secured with some small diameter heat shrink tubing, I think this makes for a much neater look than just tied knots. The top rigging ropes were made in the same way. The completed mast was then bolted down through the wheelhouse roof on the threaded studs and the two lighting wires passed through separate holes in the roof. This should allow me to detach the mast and fold it down for transport if necessary. The lower end of the ropes from the rigging blocks were formed into a loop with a spot of superglue to fix them and then some small white heat shrink tube used to cover the joints. The loops fit neatly over the cleats on the cabin roof so that they can easily be released. I’m hoping that being elasticated all the rigging will stay taut and remain presentable 😁 I must remember to order some ensigns flags from 'Mike Alsop Scale Flags' for a finishing feature as recommended by pmdevlin in an earlier blog post 👍

I realise that this is probably (almost certainly!) going over old ground for the nth time, but my last wooden model was in the days of Cascamite, and things appear to have moved on a tad since then so I need advise on which glue to use on my newly acquired Aeronaut Jenny. It says in the manual to use 'quick setting , waterproof, white glue' which sounds like a PVA glue to me but I could very easily be wrong. I would therefore be grateful for any advise going re types of glue, and their trade names, if possible. Thanks Chris

Wooden structure model fishing boats. Was done on his knee at home in the kitchen from the remnants of plywood, balsa etc. Motor 1 pc 600 with water cooling, 1pc battery NiCd 3000 mA. Excellent handling characteristics. Even though it was not good at handling the water looks great.

Wooden structure submarine chasers of 70 years in service with Russia and East Germany. Cover with balsa and smeared with epoxy varnish. The model is equipped with two engines of 600 pcs, 2 pcs NiCd battery 3000 mA